Casper Man Faces Federal Child Pornography Charges

A Casper man could spend the rest of life in prison if convicted on three federal child pornography charges.

Michael Shane-Lourcey Clements, 25, is charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transportation of child pornography. The federal indictment says Clements could face five to 80 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted on all counts.

Clements was initially charged in Natrona County Circuit Court and the case was bound over to Natrona County District Court before going federal last month.

Clements pleaded not guilty April 7 in U.S. District Court and was released on $10,000 bond. His trial is set for June 12 before Judge Alan B. Johnson in Cheyenne.

Charging papers say on Jan. 27, a special agent began an online investigation on the BitTorrent network in search of people sharing child pornography.

The agent focused on a particular IP address associated with a torrent file which referenced a file "of investigative interest to child pornography investigations," according to an affidavit.

That IP address reportedly led investigators to a home in Casper. Members of the Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force searched the home last month.

Clements, who was reportedly in the home at the time of the search, allegedly told agents he had an interest in child pornography, saying he used file-sharing software to download child pornography over the previous two or three months.

Clements told agents he collected roughly 2,000 files saved to his computer and micro SD card in that time, according to the affidavit.

Agents allegedly found child pornography on Clements' laptop, which they reportedly found in his bedroom.

Court documents say one of the files discovered on the laptop showed a 10- to 12-year-old girl performing oral sex on a man.